[MeAndVee]

My DS just turned 19 months and has been signing for diaper changes. Not all the time though. I think he is aware of when he pees and poops. My mom has warned that if I try now it will be a painful ordeal but my SIL EC from birth and potty trained her daughter fully by 24 months. I thought I missed the chance but was recently told that I could still EC him at this age.

Where do I start? Do I let him go diaperless? Brand new carpeting, DH will kill me if he poops on the carpet. Any cleaning products you would suggest? How often do I take him to the potty?

Thanx for the help.

 

[EdnaMarie]

Hi and welcome.

I think that if you have brand-new carpet, diaper-free is probably not the way to start. Too much stress and disagreement that would spoil the communication and relaxed atmosphere necessary to potty train a child.

I do not have any experience with an older child, except to say that you could have a painful ordeal even if you start him at age three. There is a thread here for late-starters as well (on top of this section).

In your case, I would try to:

-Praise him for asking for a clean diaper (e.g. "Thanks for asking me to change you- clean pants are wonderful!" "Great that you are asking to be clean!")
-Encourage him to sit on the potty every hour or two hours, using the sign for potty.
-If you are in the northern hemisphere and it's summer, try to have some naked time outside or on a tile surface in your house, so you can pick up on his signals (what he does before peeing or pooping).
-Keep it very low pressure, and follow his lead. You can even explain to him- "If you want clean pants all the time, you can go in the potty."

Most children are not done before 18 months at the earliest. But six months of training a boy, to me, would be worth having a child out of diapers before two. You have to be prepared for a long process, though. I disagree with your mom, though, that it will be painful. There is nothing painful about gradually introducing potty training with no pressure.

Imagine starting at 2.5 and realizing that you might not finish by three, and you wanted to enroll him in a pre-school. Now THAT would be painful!

 

[hrsmom]

Hi- I think that's great that you're looking into EC with your son!

You could offer him the potty when he signs for a diaper change. That is something that's recommended with younger babies, and it seems to me that my LO doesn't like to go in a wet diaper, so he may even have to go when he's signalling. Just a thought.

I don't think it will be painful, either. You can always back off if it's not right.
Plus everything EdnaMarie said.

 

[MeAndVee]

Well I ordered a little red potty and bought a pottying book for us to read during quiet time. The weather has been cold lately and we live in the south!

: I can try going bottomless when it warms up. I was thinking about getting a Bissel Little Green for misses. We don't have alot of tiled floor, I wish we did. My great uncle Reggy was actually potty trained in a summer, they taught him to go pee on a tree when he needed to go.

: The novelty of getting to pee outside was enough to get him out of diapers.

So we'll try going pee when we get up from bed, before meals, after meals, and whenever he signs potty. We just started teaching him the sign for toliet.

Should be interesting. We'll see how it goes.